Senior leader of BJP Sushil Kumar Modi arrives at Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar’s residence in Patna on Wednesday. (PTI Photo)
BJP’s tallest leader in Bihar, Sushil Kumar Modi took oath on Thursday as the deputy chief minister of Bihar after his party announced support for Nitish Kumar-led JD(U). Kumar returned to the NDA fold after splitting open the Grand Alliance of which he was a part since 2014. Kumar had announced his divorce with RJD and the Congress after the CBI raids on premises linked to Lalu Prasad Yadav and his family including son Tejashwi Yadav, the former deputy CM of the state. Kumar and Modi have had a comfortable relationship as alliance partners while running a joint BJP-JD(U) government between 2005 and 2013.
Here are five facts you need to know about Sushil Kumar Modi:
* Modi has known Lalu Yadav for 45 years. A student leader at Patna University, Modi became the general secretary of the Patna University Students’ Union in 1973. Lalu was the president of the union at that time. “From the very beginning, corruption, criminals, anti-social elements… he feels much more comfortable in the company of such people,” Modi said about Lalu at a recent Idea Exchange session at the Indian Express.
* Modi became a Member of Bihar Pradesh Chaatra (Student) Sangharsh Samiti which spearheaded the famous Bihar Student’s Movement of 1974, under the leadership of Jayaprakash Narayan. Modi was arrested five times under the repealed Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA) and jailed for a total of 24 months during the Emergency.
* A student of Botany, he was expected to fail in his graduation examination as he had hardly attended any classes and was involved in an array of socio-political activities. Two months before his exams, he took a break from everything else to study. He came second in the university.
Bihar Governor Keshari Nath Tripathi administers oath to senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi at Raj Bhawan, in Patna on Thursday. (PTI photo)
* Modi is married to Jessie George, a practising Roman Catholic who grew up in Mumbai. Modi met Jessie, five years his junior, in 1985 on a train trip. She was going to Kashmir on a trip sponsored by the Bombay Natural History Society. They started talking and were soon exchanging letters. They have two sons.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar (L) and Deputy Chief Minister Sushil Kumar Modi (R) share a light moment after oath taking ceremony at Raj Bhawan in Patna on Thursday. (AP Photo)
* Modi took a bank loan of Rs. 70,000 and opened a Computer Institute in 1987. This was the time when the tech-savvy leader discovered his love for computers and gadgets. The institute, however, only lasted for two and a half years and Modi was soon back in politics.
